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The History of Public Discourse and Media
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Amusing Ourselves to Death, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
A central consideration of Postman’s argument is the role that the news (whether in the newspaper or on television) plays in the development of the new American culture. Postman believes that the news is a particularly insidious force in the transformation of America from a culture of reason into a culture of entertainment.
While the news seems at first glance like an objective dissemination of knowledge and information, Postman maintains that the news actually represents the commodification of knowledge, and the transformation of information into mere entertainment. The news is information that we always want (and always get, via daily papers and news shows), but not information that we actually use. It is thus, according to Postman, not really information at all—it is entertainment, and thus a commodity.
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News and Entertainment ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of News and Entertainment appears in each chapter of Amusing Ourselves to Death. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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News and Entertainment Quotes in Amusing Ourselves to Death
Below you will find the important quotes in Amusing Ourselves to Death related to the theme of News and Entertainment.
Chapter 3
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The only communication event that could produce such collective attention in today's America is the Superbowl.
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When Charles Dickens visited America in 1842, his reception equaled the adulation we offer today to television stars, quarter- backs, and Michael Jackson…
Chapter 5
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To the telegraph, intelligence meant knowing of lots of things, not knowing about them…
Chapter 6
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At the end, one could only applaud those performances, which is what a good television program always aims to achieve; that is to say, applause, not reflection.
Had Irving Berlin changed one word in the title of his celebrated song [There’s No Business like Show Business], he would have been as prophetic, albeit more terse, as Aldous Huxley. He need only have written, There's No Business But Show Business.
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Chapter 7
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Americans are the best entertained and quite likely the least well-informed people in the Western world.
Chapter 9
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The television commercial is not at all about the character of products to be consumed. It is about the character of the consumers of products.
Chapter 10
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We now know that "Sesame Street" encourages children to love school only if school is like "Sesame Street."
